


Across The Nexus

by Lion_owl



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Bisexual Character, Developing Relationship, F/F, Femslash February, Friends to Lovers, Post-Episode: s04e06 The Doctor's Daughter, Post-Episode: s4e05 The Poison Sky, Pre-Episode: s4e12 The Stolen Earth, Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 22:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17651171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lion_owl/pseuds/Lion_owl
Summary: A few months after meeting Donna, well, maybe Martha's not completely done with life on the TARDIS after all...





	Across The Nexus

_“So, you going to come with us?”_ Donna had asked, once the Sontarans were dealt with and they were ready to leave Earth again. _“We're not exactly short of space.”_

 _“Oh, I have missed all this, but you know. I'm good here, back at home. And I'm better for having been away. Besides, someone needs me. Never mind the universe, I've got a great big world of my own now.”_ Martha had said, wiggling her ring finger and walking towards the door.

The TARDIS had had other plans.

 

 _“You sure about this?”_ Donna had asked as she walked with her from the TARDIS towards her house.

 _“Yeah, positive.”_ Martha had said, feeling a bit less positive than the first time, but she held her voice steady. _“I can't do this anymore. You'll be the same one day.”_

 _“Not me. Never. How could I ever go back to normal life after seeing all this? I'm going to travel with that man forever,”_ Donna insisted, and a stray thought ran across Martha’s mind that if Donna would be there, perhaps she could do it too, after all. She clamped down on it.

 _“Good luck,”_ she said.

 

Two months later – at least, Martha said it had been two months on Earth, and Donna still didn’t understand how to measure time in the TARDIS – Martha phoned Donna. She was lying on her bed at the time, while the Doctor fixed a problem with the something or other in the console room.

“How are you doing?” Donna asked.

“Tom and I broke up,” Martha said.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. What happened?”

“It’s for the best, we just… he didn’t get it. I told him about travelling in the TARDIS and he just didn’t get it. I don’t know how I can tell him I saw him die when the world almost ended and then an entire year never happened. It was silly of me to look him up in the first place.”

“No, it wasn’t silly. Never think that.”

“Anyway, tell me about whatever’s going on with you.”

“Oh, you’ll never guess who I met today…”

Donna told her all about helping Agatha Christie solve a murder, and in turn Martha told her all about meeting Shakespeare, ending with him reciting _Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day_ to her, which had Donna in fits of laughter.

They ended up chatting for hours, until Martha realised it was gone midnight, and she had to be up for work in too few hours.

After that, they spoke on the phone often, and the more they did, the more they each privately wished that Martha was out there with Donna and the Doctor.

Five months after their trip to Messaline, the TARDIS landed on a rather barren planet. They had been aiming for New Zealand, but as was so often the case, the TARDIS had other ideas. And as was also often the case, the TARDIS knew what she was doing.

As it turned out, a group of UNIT officers had been investigating an alien spaceship which crashed on Earth, and accidentally been transported and stranded on the planet. Martha was among them. They took them back to Earth and the Doctor helped them disable the transporters and move the spaceship – and explained to them where it came from.

Donna desperately wanted to ask Martha to come with them, but she’d already asked twice and didn’t want to push it, so instead she insisted to the Doctor on staying in London for a few days and she invited Martha out to dinner.

“So where are you off to next?” Martha asked, after taking a final bite of cake and pushing her plate towards the centre of the table.

“We were thinking New Zealand,” Donna said. “That’s where we were going before the TARDIS brought us to you.”

“New Zealand’s nice,” Martha said, an almost-faraway look clouding her face. “Or at least it was when I went there when I was a child. It was a bit more desolate last time.”

Donna just nodded, knowing when _last time_ , had been, and not knowing what to say. She couldn’t imagine what Martha had gone through, that year. Donna was lucky, she had forgotten all about it.

“New Zealand in which century?” Martha asked, returning to the present.

“Hmmm, don’t know,” Donna said. “Told the Doctor to surprise me.”

They paid the bill, and walked together in silence – there weren’t too many cars on the roads that night, and they just enjoyed the quiet and the cool night air and each other’s presence.

When they stopped outside the TARDIS, they stood there, holding each other’s gaze, on a precipice between saying goodbye, perhaps kissing, perhaps kissing and then still having to say goodbye, and neither could bring themselves to let the moment come to an end…

Until the Doctor opened the door and cheerily said “right, ready to go?” and it was broken.

“Yeah,” Donna said, her heart sinking.

“Can I come with you?” Martha asked, surprising both of them.

There didn’t have to be any discussion: they were both delighted to have her along.


End file.
